DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 In·def·i·nite a.
 1. Not definite; not limited, defined, or specified; not explicit; not determined or fixed upon; not precise; uncertain; vague; confused; obscure; as, an indefinite time, plan, etc.
    It were to be wished that . . . men would leave off that indefinite way of vouching, =\“the chymists say this,” or “the chymists affirm that.”\=   --Boyle.
    The time of this last is left indefinite.   --Dryden.
 2. Having no determined or certain limits; large and unmeasured, though not infinite; unlimited; as, indefinite space; the indefinite extension of a straight line.
    Though it is not infinite, it may be indefinite; though it is not boundless in itself, it may be so to human comprehension.   --Spectator.
 3. Boundless; infinite. [R.]
 Indefinite and omnipresent God,
 Inhabiting eternity.   --W. Thompson (1745).
 4. Bot. Too numerous or variable to make a particular enumeration important; -- said of the parts of a flower, and the like. Also, indeterminate.
 Indefinite article Gram., the word a or an, used with nouns to denote any one of a common or general class.
 Indefinite inflorescence. Bot. See Indeterminate inflorescence, under Indeterminate.
 Indefinite proposition Logic, a statement whose subject is a common term, with nothing to indicate distribution or nondistribution; as, Man is mortal.
 Indefinite term Logic, a negative term; as, the not-good.
 Syn: -- Inexplicit; vague; uncertain; unsettled; indeterminate; loose; equivocal; inexact; approximate.
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 In·de·ter·mi·nate a.  Not determinate; not certain or fixed; indefinite; not precise; as, an indeterminate number of years.
 Indeterminate analysis Math., that branch of analysis which has for its object the solution of indeterminate problems.
 Indeterminate coefficients Math., coefficients arbitrarily assumed for convenience of calculation, or to facilitate some artifice of analysis. Their values are subsequently determined.
 Indeterminate equation Math., an equation in which the unknown quantities admit of an infinite number of values, or sets of values. A group of equations is indeterminate when it contains more unknown quantities than there are equations.
 Indeterminate inflorescence Bot., a mode of inflorescence in which the flowers all arise from axillary buds, the terminal bud going on to grow and sometimes continuing the stem indefinitely; -- called also acropetal inflorescence, botryose inflorescence, centripetal inflorescence, and indefinite inflorescence. --Gray.
 Indeterminate problem Math., a problem which admits of an infinite number of solutions, or one in which there are fewer imposed conditions than there are unknown or required results.
 Indeterminate quantity Math., a quantity which has no fixed value, but which may be varied in accordance with any proposed condition.
 Indeterminate series Math., a series whose terms proceed by the powers of an indeterminate quantity, sometimes also with indeterminate exponents, or indeterminate coefficients.
 -- In*de*ter*mi*nate*ly adv. -- In*de*ter*mi*nate*ness, n.
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